3 Ways to Manage a Successful Project with BigTime

Jun 26,2018

Will you hit the project deadline? Do you have the right staffers on it? Will you need to hire a new developer for that upcoming project in two months?

Get answers to these questions by monitoring a project throughout its lifecycle. It’s a surefire way to know how a project is progressing and how your team is performing. This post will highlight three ways to use BigTime to get the information you need to run a successful project.

1. Check your Dashboards

Check your BigTime Dashboards, which are updated in real-time. Your dashboards provide high-level information on major BigTime features, like timesheets and budgets. Then, drill-down further if something looks amiss.

Resource Allocation Dashboard allows you to visualize your resource allocation budgets. See which staffers are logging the most hours to a project and whether a project is staying on budget. Read more about your Resource Allocation Dashboard.

BigTime Dashboard shows you statuses of major BigTime features, including billability, invoicing, timesheets, and review and approvals. Click on one of the tiles in the quadrant to drill into a specific topic. Read more about your BigTime Dashboard here. (Note: Your BigTime Dashboard view may vary depending on your industry and/or subscription level.)

2. Run Weekly or Monthly Resource Allocation Reports

Whether you use weekly or monthly allocations, you can get reports at both the weekly and monthly level. Fortunately, we have several pre-built reports to make the process quick and easy. For example, the report “Allocation by Week/Project” shows you all of your active projects with allocated hours and staffers. Users find this report helpful to:

See where staffers spend their time,

Determine if staffers are over or under capacity, and

Notice planning gaps.

3. Read Timesheet Notes

Are your staffers adding notes to their timesheets? They should. According to our 2016 study, timesheet entries with notes of 140 characters yield a 4.95% higher billing realization rate compared to those without notes. This means the small to mid-size US professional services market could increase billings by $35 billion just by adding on timesheet notes the length of a tweet.

Create a custom report with timesheet notes to see if your staffers are adding notes to their timesheets, and read the notes they’re adding. This will give you a good idea of what they’re working on each day.

Most importantly, do something with the information you gather. Share relevant details with your staffers on a regular basis. For example, run a report for your consultants so they know who’s billing the most hours to a project. Proactively tell your client if you’re running over on hours and propose a solution.

Monitoring a project regularly is the best way to avoid common, but often preventable, mishaps, such as going over budget or missing a deadline.